TPA's and the salary cap

Answer 1: To give an even playing field to all NRL clubs involved in the competition.

Question 2: Why are Third Party Agreements (TPA) used?

Answer 2: TPA’s are used to allow players to maximise their earning potential using third parties.

After asking myself the questions mentioned above and considering the answers I have come up with, the ultimate question I put to all is:

What workable system does the NRL need to put into place in regards to the TPA’s so that the integrity of the salary cap maintains it’s objective? (we all know that the rich clubs will exploit the system as it stands)

I suggest the NRL puts a cap on TPA’s at a reasonable figure and make public the TPA’s (from who, to whom etc) at least that way the third party can be satisfied in getting some exposure and recognition for their support and the NRL can keep the process transparent

The salary cap is an illusion. It is in place so the NRL can pretend it is a fair competition.

TPAs are in place so the rich clubs can continue to be the best clubs. Same as it has always been.

They won’t cap TPAs under the pretence of not restricting player earnings. And even if they did cap TPAs there are still the bags of cash, the properties for family members, undisclosed favours, etc, etc.

Clubs like the Tigers will have a chance of a premiership every 20 years or so when all the stars align and they can get through on young players with talent.

I have said a million times under the present system we are worse off than what we were. The cap was introduced to bring the comp together so the bottom teams could compete on a level playing field. So now we have about 3.5 mil to spend and very little in the way of TPA’s and we cop a major fine or loose points if we go over the 3.5 mil, the big clubs get the same 3.5 mil and what seems like endless TPA,s. So basically we will never be able to compete.

So than we invest heavily in our juniors, but of course now we run the risk of having these juniors up and leave once we have developed them to the richer clubs. I get the feeling the TPA’s are here to stay because it would be deemed as a restraint of trade if players were barred from entering into these arrangements. so what is the answer??? I would like a transfer system re introduced so clubs get rewarded for developing talent that is lured to the rich clubs in the form of a transfer fee. Also like to see a salary cap system that heavily rewards local juniors and heavily penalises the importation of outside talent. Both will never happen because how could you ever have a fair system!!!

TPAs are why the Dogs and Broncos feature in pretty much every finals series and teams like us and Newcastle struggle along. The Parramatta directors understood this but weren’t clever enough to do it.

The salary cap is an illusion. It is in place so the NRL can pretend it is a fair competition.

TPAs are in place so the rich clubs can continue to be the best clubs. Same as it has always been.

They won’t cap TPAs under the pretence of not restricting player earnings. And even if they did cap TPAs there are still the bags of cash, the properties for family members, undisclosed favours, etc, etc.

Clubs like the Tigers will have a chance of a premiership every 20 years or so when all the stars align and they can get through on young players with talent.

just 2 years ago the raiders were complaining about not being able to recruit talent.

now theyre a top 2 team that put 110 on us in 2 games. same with the sharks, spoon to 3rd in 2 years.

and even the tigers have had 3 chances at a premiership within 16 years, so im not quite sure what you mean by 1 in 20.

if you want to know the real reason clubs like the broncos and melbourne are always competitive? go take a look at their facilities, they look like a professional sports teams facilities. ours look like theyre from the 80s, with a nice spruce up in the 90s.

next, they can afford 1-1.5million a year for the head coach, and their assistants would be nicely compensated too

those two things make an enormous difference - TPA’s effect are blown out of proportion as theyre an easy target

there should definitely be a few small to medium changes, but theyre not as big a deal as the media makes out

The salary cap is an illusion. It is in place so the NRL can pretend it is a fair competition.

TPAs are in place so the rich clubs can continue to be the best clubs. Same as it has always been.

They won’t cap TPAs under the pretence of not restricting player earnings. And even if they did cap TPAs there are still the bags of cash, the properties for family members, undisclosed favours, etc, etc.

Clubs like the Tigers will have a chance of a premiership every 20 years or so when all the stars align and they can get through on young players with talent.

just 2 years ago the raiders were complaining about not being able to recruit talent.

now theyre a top 2 team that put 110 on us in 2 games. same with the sharks, spoon to 3rd in 2 years.

and even the tigers have had 3 chances at a premiership within 16 years, so im not quite sure what you mean by 1 in 20.

if you want to know the real reason clubs like the broncos and melbourne are always competitive? go take a look at their facilities, they look like a professional sports teams facilities. ours look like theyre from the 80s, with a nice spruce up in the 90s.

next, they can afford 1-1.5million a year for the head coach, and their assistants would be nicely compensated too

those two things make an enormous difference - TPA’s effect are blown out of proportion as theyre an easy target

there should definitely be a few small to medium changes, but theyre not as big a deal as the media makes out

I read an article this morning about Mansour touring the Raiders facility and being very impressed. Imagine us trying to lure him to camp concord! We must get laughed at a lot.

You can have all the facilities in the world but money talks the loudest and your geographically location also plays a part in attracting quality players

thats another good point

brisbane have access to 2mil people’s worth of juniors

we’re actually quite blessed with a good system - but our juniors are easily poached by 8 other sydney teams - as are our playeres in general. easier to convince someone to move from concord to manly than say brisbane to NZ.

You can have all the facilities in the world but money talks the loudest and your geographically location also plays a part in attracting quality players

thats another good point

brisbane have access to 2mil people’s worth of juniors

we’re actually quite blessed with a good system - but our juniors are easily poached by 8 other sydney teams - as are our playeres in general. easier to convince someone to move from concord to manly than say brisbane to NZ.

I agree with all the above posts.
TPA’s are simply not fair on the poorer clubs, as some of you are saying that’s why it’s hard for a club like ours to keep the young blokes here, as we don’t have the financial backers that some clubs have.
Hopefully some of the young players will stay regardless of the money

The comp has never been more even.
Some clubs spend their money wisely…some not so much. Guess which group those who whinge belong to…

its definitely not like we have the richest man in australia helping us out

he’s said before we havent used his resources well at all

Easiest solution is for us to get better at what everyone else is doing

No reason we can’t make this system work for us , we just need to aim way higher at every level , to be the best , not just to scrape by every season

Third Parties are attached to talent , and are at the most important in securing the above average through to the middle of the road players , that’s the key in my opinion We don’t have a great deal of these from other clubs , our recruitment sucks

The big names will attract the big TPA’s

We need to attract talent and then make them more marketable in a business sense as well as a football sense